Critical Approaches to Death, Dying and Bereavement

Borgstrom, Erica and Visser, Renske (2024). Critical Approaches to Death, Dying and Bereavement. Critical Approaches to Health. Abingdon: Routledge.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003318002

Abstract

This book is the first of its kind to examine key topics in death, dying, and bereavement through a critical lens, highlighting how the understanding and experience of death can vary considerably, based on social, cultural, historical, political, and medical contexts. It looks at the complex ways in which death and dying are managed, from the political level down to end- of- life care, and the inequalities that surround and impact experiences of death, dying, and bereavement.

Readers are introduced to key theories, such as the medicalisation of dying, as well as contemporary issues, such as social movements, pandemics, and assisted dying. The book stresses how death is not only a biological process or event but rather shaped by a range of intersecting factors. Issues of inequalities in health, inequities in support, and intersectional analyses are brought to the fore, and each chapter is dedicated to an issue that has interdisciplinary resonance, thus showcasing the wider sociocultural and political factors that impact this time of life.

This book is valuable reading for scholars in thanatology and death studies, and for those in related fields such as sociology of health, medical and social anthropology, and interdisciplinary social science courses.

Plain Language Summary

This book looks at the social and political factors that impact death. This includes how and when people die, their dying experiences, and how grief and bereavement are experienced. It covers topics including mortality statistics (how we count deaths), end of life care (how dying people are cared for), suicide, and how people respond to grief.

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